Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri responds to Gary Cahill's scathing assessment of his first campaign

Maurizio Sarri has praised departing Chelsea captain Gary Cahill's professionalism, but denied seeing the defender's scathing interview in which he criticised the Italian's man-management style.

In an interview with The Telegraph which was published on Sunday morning, Cahill labelled this season - his final at Chelsea - as "terrible" and claimed Sarri had failed to explain to him why he was no longer a regular starter at the club.

The 33-year-old, who has won every major club honour during his time at Stamford Bridge, said he would erase the campaign from his memory as a result and added: "It makes it very hard for me to have respect for someone who has not respected what some of us have won with the club."

Cahill was sent on by Sarri in the 89th minute of Chelsea's 3-0 win against Watford on Sunday afternoon as the defender made his final Premier League appearance as a Blues player at Stamford Bridge.

After the game, Sarri said he wasn't aware of the comments that Cahill made about him but praised the Chelsea captain for the manner with which he handled being relegated to the bench this term.

"I don't know the situation, I'm sorry," Sarri said when asked if he was aware of Cahill's interview.

"It's not important for me. Cahill, during the season, was really very professional. He played only five, six or seven matches, but he was really very important in the training ground, in the dressing room.

"Today was his last match for Chelsea, so it was important for him to be on the pitch, only for a few minutes but I still think it was really very important for the fans and for him.

"Here, Gary won everything. And so I think he had to say goodbye to the stadium, to the fans, to the club."